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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of the
life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S., late
president of the American Philosophical Society,
&c
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Memoirs of the life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S., late

president of the American Philosophical Society, &c
interspersed with various notices of many distinguished
men : with an appendix, containing sundry
philosophical and other papers, most of which have not
hitherto been published

Author: William Barton

Release date: December 2, 2023 [eBook #72283]

Language: English

Original publication: Philadelphia: Edward Parker, 1813

Credits: KD Weeks, The Online Distributed Proofreading Team

at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet
Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS

OF THE LIFE OF DAVID RITTENHOUSE, LLD. F.R.S., LATE
PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, &C
***
 Transcriber’s Note:
Please consult the end notes for a discussion of the
handling of textual notes, and any other issues that arose
during the preparation of this transcription.
The front cover, which contained no text, has been
modified by adding a simplified version of the title page,
and, as so modified, is added to the public domain.
Any corrections are indicated as hyperlinks, which will
navigate the reader to the corresponding entry in the
corrections table in the note at the end of the text.
 MEMOIRS

OF THE LIFE

OF

DAVID RITTENHOUSE, LLD. F.R.S.

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, &c.

INTERSPERSED WITH

VARIOUS NOTICES OF MANY DISTINGUISHED MEN:

WITH

AN APPENDIX,
CONTAINING

SUNDRY PHILOSOPHICAL AND OTHER PAPERS,

MOST OF WHICH HAVE NOT HITHERTO BEEN PUBLISHED.

BY WILLIAM BARTON, M. A.
COUNSELLOR AT LAW;

Member of the American Philosophical Society, the Mass. Hist. Society, and the
Royal Economical Society of Valencia, in Spain.

PHILADELPHIA:
 PUBLISHED BY EDWARD PARKER, NO. 178, MARKET-STREET.

W. Brown, Printer, Church-Alley.

1813.
DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT:
BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the ninth day of October, in the
thirty-eighth year of the independence of the United States of
America, A. D. 1813, William Barton of the said district, hath
deposited in this office the Title of a book, the right whereof he
claims as Author, in the words following, to wit:
“Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse, L. L. D. F.R.S, late
President of the American Philosophical Society, &c. Interspersed
with various notices of many distinguished men: with an Appendix,
containing sundry philosophical and other papers, most of which
have not hitherto been published. By William Barton, M. A.
Counsellor at Law; Member of the American Philosophical Society,
the Mass. Hist. Society, and the Royal Economical Society of
Valencia, in Spain.”
In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States,
intituled, “An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the
copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of
such copies during the times therein mentioned.”—And also to the
act entitled, “An act supplementary to an act, entitled, “An act for the
encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts,
and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the
times therein mentioned,” and extending the benefits thereof to the
arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.”

D. CALDWELL,
Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania.
 PREFACE.

Agreeably to the plan on which the following memoirs have been

conducted, it will be perceived, that they contain a great variety of
matter; of which, some particulars have a remote, others merely an
incidental connexion, with the chief object of the work. There may
perhaps be some readers, to whom the introduction of such matters
as the University of Pennsylvania and the Medical School connected
with it, the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Philadelphia Library, and the
like, into the Life of Rittenhouse, will, on a cursory view, seem to
have little or no affinity to that object. But when it is considered, that
this work is designed to comprehend Memoirs, not only of
Rittenhouse personally, but of several literary, scientific, and other
public institutions, as well as of many eminent men, with which his
individual history and the annals of his time were in various ways
associated, it is presumed, that the slight sketches which have been
taken of those matters, in passing along, will neither prove foreign to
the nature of the present undertaking, nor uninteresting in
themselves. As a citizen of Pennsylvania; as an inestimable public
and private character; as a distinguished son of science, of great
probity and extensive usefulness in society; in all these points of
view, the History of Dr. Rittenhouse may be contemplated, as holding
a relationship with almost every object connected with science and
the arts, in his day, that could in any wise contribute to the well being
of mankind in general, and his native country in particular.
Conspicuous and eminently meritorious as he was, yet an insulated
account of his talents, his virtues, and his personal services,—a bare
specification of such qualities and merits as he possessed,
abstracted from a due consideration of the state of society and
circumstances resulting from it, taken in connexion with them, during
the same period,—would not be equally intelligible and instructive;
and, consequently, must prove less useful. For these reasons, the
Memorialist has pursued that course which he conceives to be
perfectly congenial with the main design of his work; as best
calculated to promote its general usefulness, and most suitably
adapted to render it interesting, even to those who read for
amusement solely.

In the adoption of this plan, the writer has been chiefly influenced
by a desire to illustrate the history, genius and character of the times,
which his Memoirs embrace; together with the progress and
improvement of literature, science and the arts, within the same
compass, more especially in this country; and this consideration has
obviously led him to introduce, in conjunction with those objects, as
well as with the Life of the great American Philosopher, various
notices of many persons distinguished for their talents and merit, not
only in our own time, but at different periods in the annals of science.
He has thought it right to rescue from oblivion—to commemorate in
this way, if not to consecrate, the names of some men in this country,
more especially, who deserve to be ranked among the worthies of
America. All this the writer has done, too, in conformity to the mode
prosecuted by some of the most judicious biographers and
memorialists, together with other writers of the same class: It is
believed to be a manner of treating the interesting subjects, on which
the pens of such authors have been employed, which, while it
renders their works more pleasing, greatly increases their
usefulness.—If, therefore, some of the matter which has been
introduced into the present work should, at first sight, appear
irrelative, and even unimportant, the Memorialist nevertheless
flatters himself, that, on reflection, nothing will be deemed really so,
how remotely soever it may seem, on a transient view of the subject,
to be connected with the principal design of the undertaking;
provided it has a tendency to illustrate the great objects he was
desirous of accomplishing.[I1]

The diversity of the materials which are, by these means, blended

with the biographical account of Dr. Rittenhouse, in the Memoirs now
presented to the world, made it expedient, in the opinion of the
writer, to have recourse to the free use of notes, for the purposes of
illustration, reference, and explanation. In a work of such a
complexion—constituting a book composed of very various
materials, designed to elucidate and inform, as well as to please—it
became, in fact, necessary to throw a large portion of that matter into
the form of notes; in order to avoid, by numerous digressions on
subjects arising out of the primary object of the work, too much
disjointing of the text. There are persons, no doubt, by whom this
course will be disapproved. The able and learned author of the
Pursuits of Literature has been accused by some critics—while
others, who have no pretensions to those qualifications which entitle
a man to exercise the functions of a critic, have even affected to
laugh at him—for the multiplicity, the variety, and the length of the
notes, which he has appended to that poem. But its being a satirical
poem, is the circumstance to which may be fairly attributed the
censorious cavils which his work excited: his satire was felt; and it
roused the spleen of those who were its objects, and their partizans.
The present work, however, is far from being intended to satirise any
one; its author has no such object in view: for, although he has, in
some instances, expressed his disapprobation of certain principles,
theories, and even measures, which he believes to be not only
repugnant to true science, but destructive of both private and social
happiness—he has refrained as far as possible from personal
censure;—he would much rather be engaged in the functions of an
eulogist, than those of a censor. The numerous notes the
Memorialist has employed—many of them, too, pretty long—will not
therefore, he presumes, be objected to, on the ground of personality
or supposed ill-humour. He has introduced them into his Memoirs,
because he believed them to be not only useful, but peculiarly well
adapted to a work of this nature, and suited to answer the general
scope of its design. The author may then say, in the words of the
poetical writer just mentioned—as an apology for the frequency and
copiousness of the notes annexed to these Memoirs;—“I have made
no allusions which I did not mean to explain. But I had something
further in my intention. The notes are not always explanatory; they
are of a structure rather peculiar to themselves: many of them are of
a nature between an essay and an explanatory comment. There is
much in a little compass, suited to the exigency of the times. I
expatiated on the casual subject which presented itself; and when
ancient or modern writers expressed the thoughts better than I could
myself, I have given the original languages. No man has a greater
contempt for the parade of quotation (as such) than I have. My
design is not to quote words, but to enforce right sentiments in the
manner which I think best adapted to the purpose, after much
reflection.”

The method of disposing of the notes, in this work, may be thought

by some to impair the symmetry of the page: but so trivial a defect as
this may be, in the typographical appearance of the book, will, it is
supposed, be amply compensated by the convenience the reader
will experience, in having the annotations, almost always, on the
same pages with their respective references.

In the arrangement of the Memoirs, the author has placed the

incidents and circumstances relating to the Life of Dr. Rittenhouse, in
their chronological order, as nearly as could be conveniently done.

An Appendix,—containing sundry letters and other papers, which

could neither be incorporated with propriety into the text, nor inserted
in marginal notes,—is placed after the conclusion of the Memoirs. In
this part of the work the reader will find, among other interesting
documents, Dr. Rittenhouse’s Oration on the subject of Astronomy,
pronounced before the American Philosophical Society, in the year
1775. The addition of this treatise to the Life of our Philosopher, was
rendered the more proper,—independently of the intrinsic merit of
the performance,—by reason of the pamphlet having had, originally,
a very limited circulation, and its being now out of print. The Notes,
added to this little tract, as well as to some other papers in the
Appendix, by the Memorialist, are designated by the initials of his
name; in order to distinguish the annotations from either the notes
originally attached to them,—or from other matter, in the Text, not
written by himself.
 The author has embellished his work with an elegantly engraved
likeness of Dr. Rittenhouse, executed by an able artist, from a
portrait painted by Mr. C. W. Peale, in-the year 1772,[I2] when our
Philosopher was forty years of age. At that time he wore a wig,—and
was so represented in the picture: but afterwards, when he resumed
the wearing of his own hair, (and which he continued to do during the
remainder of his life,) the portrait was altered accordingly, by Mr.
Peale. The original picture (now in the possession of Mrs. Sergeant,)
bore a strong resemblance to Dr. Rittenhouse, at that period of his
life in which it was taken; and the engraving, prefixed to these
Memoirs, is an excellent copy.

To a portion of the readers of this work, some of the matter it

contains may be thought superfluous,—because already familiar to
them: and, to men of extensive learning and research, much of the
information herein collected may really be so. But to persons of less
erudition and science, the knowledge thus communicated it may be
presumed, will prove in some degree useful; and the writer indulges
a confident belief, that the greater number of his readers will derive
both instruction and gratification, from a perusal of the Memoirs now
offered to their attention.

The favours which the Memorialist has received, in the

communication of sundry papers and some information for this work,
demand his thankful acknowledgments to the contributors. Among
these,—besides those gentlemen occasionally mentioned in the
Memoirs,—the writer returns his thanks to his worthy relatives, Mrs.
Sergeant, Mrs. Waters, and Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton; and also to
the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, Andrew Ellicott, Esq. John Vaughan, Esq.
the Rev. Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, Charles Smith, Esq. and the
Rev. Mr. Cathcart. To the friendship and politeness of these very
respectable characters, he holds himself indebted, on this occasion.
[I3]

It has been the earnest desire of the writer, to adhere strictly to

Truth, in every part of his narrative: he has not, therefore, introduced
into his work any thing, as a matter of Fact, which he did not believe
to be well founded. Wherever he has ventured to express an Opinion
of his own, on any subject of importance, it must be left to the
judgment and candour of others to determine, what weight it may be
entitled to.—In the various quotations which appear in his Memoirs,
the writer has endeavoured to observe the utmost fidelity, with
respect to the originals; and all his translations into the English, from
other languages, have been made with a like scrupulous attention to
correctness.—Some errors and inaccuracies have nevertheless, it
may be readily supposed, found their way into the following work;
though the writer trusts they are neither numerous nor very
important: and, as they are wholly unintentional, of whatever
description they may be, he hopes it will not be deemed
presumptuous in him, to claim for them the indulgence of a candid,
liberal, and discerning public.

Lancaster, in Pennsylvania,
April 11, 1813.

I1. The biographer of Rittenhouse entirely coincides with the

compilers of the Encyclopædia Britannica, in opinion, respecting the
utility and propriety of giving an account, in such Memoirs as the
present, of things as well as persons, connected in various ways with
the main object of the work.

In the preface to that useful dictionary of arts, sciences and

miscellaneous literature, are the following observations: the
consideration they merit; is submitted to the good sense of the
reader.

“While one part of our readers,” say the encyclopedists, when

referring to the biographical department of their work, “will regret that
we have given no account of their favourite philosopher, hero, or
statesman, others may be disposed to remark, that we have dragged
from obscurity the names of many persons who were no proper
objects of such public regard. To these we can only reply, that, with
the greatest biographer of modern times, we have long thought that
there has rarely passed a life, of which a faithful narrative would not
be useful; and that in the lives of the most obscure persons, of whom
we have given any account, we saw something either connected
with recent discoveries and public affairs, or which we thought
capable of affording a lesson to great multitudes in similar
circumstances.”—“Between eminent achievements and the scenes
where they were performed, there is a natural and necessary
connexion. The character of the warrior is connected with the fields
of his battles; that of the legislator, with the countries which he
civilized; and that of the traveller and navigator, with the regions
which they explored. Even when we read of the persons by whom,
and the occasions on which, any particular branch of knowledge has
been improved, we naturally wish to know something of the places
where such improvements were made.”

I2. Mr. C. W. Peale painted at the same time another portrait of

him, for himself; which is likewise altered from the original painting. It
has a place in Mr. Peale’s Gallery of Portraits. There is a third, by the
same hand, in the possession of the American Philosophical Society.

Another good picture of Dr. Rittenhouse was also then made, by

Mr. James Peale, for the Rev. Mr. Barton. This (which represents him
with a wig) is now in the possession of John Moore White, Esq. of
New-Jersey, who married Mr. Barton’s youngest daughter.

A pretty good mezzotinto, in a large size,—done from Mr. C. W.

Peale’s painting of our Philosopher,—was executed by Mr. E.
Savage, in the winter of 1796: and since that time, some small
engravings have been made from different pictures of him; but these
do not so well preserve the likeness.

I3. Some interesting information was likewise communicated by

the late Professor Rush. The death of that gentleman having
occurred since the completion of the present work, the author has
inserted a concise biographical notice of him, in the Appendix, in
place of the mention originally made of his name in this preface.
 INTRODUCTION.

The individuals in society, who present to the view of their

cotemporaries, and transmit to posterity, Memorials of illustrious
men,—more especially those of their own country,—discharge
thereby a debt of gratitude: because every man is, directly or
indirectly, interested in the benefits conferred on his species, by
those who enlarge the sphere of human knowledge, or otherwise
promote the happiness of mankind.

But the biographer of an highly meritorious character aims at more

than the mere performance of that duty, which a grateful sense of
obligation exacts from him, in common with every member of the
community, in commemorating the beneficence of the wise and the
good: he endeavours to excite in great and liberal minds, by the
example of such, an ambition to emulate their talents and their
virtues;—and it is these, that, by their union, constitute true
greatness of character.

The meed of applause which may be sometimes, and too often is,
bestowed on meretricious worth, is ever unsteady and fleeting. The
pseudo-patriot may happen to enjoy a transient popularity; false
philosophy may, for a while, delude, if not corrupt, the minds of an
unthinking multitude; and specious theories in every department of
science,—unsupported by experience and untenable on principles of
sound reason,—may give to their projectors a short-lived reputation:
But the celebrity which is coveted by the man of a noble and
generous spirit,—that estimable species of fame, which alone can
survive such ephemera of error as are often engendered by the
vanity of the individual and nurtured by the follies or vices of the
many,—must ever rest on the permanent foundation of truth,
knowledge and beneficence.

Virtue is essentially necessary to the constitution of a truly great

character. For, although brilliant talents are sometimes found
combined with vicious propensities,[1]—the impulse given to men of
this description, often renders their great abilities baneful to society:
they can seldom, if ever, be productive of real public good. Should
eminent talents, possessed by a man destitute of virtue, even take a
right direction in their operation, by reason of some extraordinary
circumstance,—such an event ought never to be calculated on: It is
not the part of common sense,—much less of a cautious prudence,
acquired by a knowledge of mankind,—to expect praise-worthy
conduct from any one, whose predominating passions are bad,
however great may be his capability of doing good.

While, therefore, the mind may view, with a sort of admiration, the
achievements of a magnanimous soldier, it turns with indignation
from the atrocities of a military tyrant: and at the same time that it
may be induced to contemplate even with complacency, at the first
view, the plausible, yet groundless speculations of ingenious
theorists, in matters of science,—still the fallacy of their systems,
when developed by experience, strips them of all their tinseled glare
of merit. Thus, too, the applause which the world justly attaches to
the character of a patriot-hero, deserts the unprincipled ruffian-
warrior, however valiant and successful he may prove: In like
manner, reason and experience expose to the censure of the good
and the derision of the wise, the deleterious doctrines of
metaphysical statesmen and philosophers.[2] Such estimable
qualities as they may possess, in either character, are merged in the
mischievous or base ones, with which they are combined: thus,
infamy or contempt eventually become the merited portion of crime
or of folly, as either one or the other may prevail. A Cæsar,[3] a
Cromwell and a Robespierre, with other scourges of mankind, of like
character, will therefore be viewed as objects of execration by
posterity, while the memories of an Alfred, a Nassau, and a
Washington—a Chatham, a Burke, and an Ames,—will be
venerated, to the latest posterity.

Much of the glory of a nation results from the renown of illustrious

men, among its citizens: a country which has produced many great
men, may justly pride itself on the fame which those individuals had
acquired. The community to which we belong is entitled to such
services as we can render to it: these the patriot will cheerfully
bestow; and, in promoting the honour and prosperity of his country, a
large portion of the lustre which the exertion of his talents shall have
shed upon it, are again reflected on himself.[4]

The cultivator of those branches of natural science which

constitute practical and experimental philosophy;—equally with the
teacher of religion and morals,—extends the beneficial effects of his
researches and knowledge beyond the bounds of his particular
country. Truth is every where the same; and the promulgation of it
tends, at all times and in all places, to elevate to its proper station
the dignity of man. The more extensively, then, true science can be
diffused, the greater will be the means—the fairer will be the rational
prospect, of enlarging the sphere of human happiness. The
philosopher may, pre-eminently, be considered as a citizen of the
world; yet without detracting in any degree from that spirit of
patriotism, which ever stimulates a good man to contribute his
primary and most important services to his own country. There are,
indeed, some species of aids, which are exclusively due to a
community, by all its citizens; and, consequently, such as they are
bound to withhold from other national communities, in certain
contingencies and under peculiar circumstances. But a knowledge of
those truths which lead to the acquisition of wisdom and practice of
virtue, serves to meliorate the condition of mankind generally, at all
times, and under all circumstances;—inasmuch as they greatly
assist in banishing error, with its frequent concomitant, vice, not only
from the more civilized portions of the world, but also by their
inherent influence, from among nations less cultivated and refined.
 The truths promulgated by means of a natural and sublime
philosophy—corresponding, as this does, with the dignity of an
enlightened spirit—must ever emanate from a virtuous heart as well
as an expanded intellect. Hence, the real philosopher,—he whose
principles are unpolluted by the sophisticated tenets of some modern
pretenders to the appellation,—can scarcely fail to be a good man.
Such was the immortal Newton; such were a Boyle, a Hale and a
Barrow,—a Boerhaave, a Stephen Hales and a Bradley; with many
worthies equally illustrious,—whose glories will, for ever, retain their
primitive splendour.

Even the most celebrated sages of antiquity, extremely imperfect

as we know the philosophy of the early ages to have been,
elucidated, by the purity of their lives and the morality of their
doctrines, the truth of the position,—that the cultivation of natural
wisdom, unaided as it then was by the lights of revelation, encreased
every propensity to moral virtue. Such were Socrates, Plato his
disciple, and Anaxagoras; who flourished between four and five
centuries before the Christian era.

The life of Socrates, who is styled by Cicero the Father of

Philosophers, afforded a laudable example of moderation, patience,
and other virtues; and his doctrines abound with wisdom.
Anaxagoras and Plato united with some of the nobler branches of
natural science, very rational conceptions of moral truth. Both of
them had much higher claims to the title of philosophers, than
Aristotle, who appeared about a century afterwards. This
philosopher, however,—for, as such, he continued for many ages to
be distinguished in the schools,—was, like Socrates, more a
metaphysician than an observer of the natural world. His morality is
the most estimable part of his works; though his conceptions of
moral truths were much less just than those of Anaxagoras and
Plato:[5] for his physics are replete with notions and terms alike
vague, unmeaning and obscure.[6] The intimate connexion that
subsists between the physical and moral fitness of things, in relation
to their respective objects, was more evidently known to Anaxagoras
and Plato, than to either Socrates or Aristotle: and the reason is
obvious;—both of the former cultivated the sublime science of
Astronomy.

To this cause, then, may be fairly attributed the half-enlightened

notions of the Deity,[7] and of a future state, entertained by these
pagan searchers after truth. To the same cause may be traced the
sentiment that dictated the reply made by Anaxagoras,—when, in
consequence of his incessant contemplation of the stars, he was
asked, “if he had no concern for his country?”—“I incessantly regard
my country,” said he, pointing to Heaven.

Plato’s attention to the same celestial science unquestionably

enlarged his notions of the Deity, and enabled him to think the more
justly of the moral attributes of human nature. According to Plato—
whose morality, on the whole, corresponds with the system
maintained by Socrates,[8]—the human soul is a ray from the Divinity.
He believed, that this minute portion of infinite Wisdom, Goodness
and Power, was omniscient, while united with the Parent stock from
which it emanated; but, when combined with the body, that it
contracted ignorance and impurity from that union. He did not, like
his master Socrates, neglect natural philosophy; but investigated
many principles which relate to that branch of knowledge:—and,
according to this philosopher, all things consisted of two principles,—
God and matter.

It is evident that Plato believed in the immortality of the soul of

man; but he had, at the same time, very inadequate conceptions of
the mode or state of its existence, when separated from the body. It
seems to have been reserved for the Christian dispensation, to
elucidate this great arcanum, hidden from the most sagacious of the
heathen philosophers.[9] It was the difficulty that arose on this
subject, the incapability of knowing how to dispose of the soul, or
intellectual principle in the constitution of our species, after its
disentanglement from the body; a difficulty by which all the
philosophers, antecedent to the promulgation of Christianity, were
subjected to unsurmountable perplexities;—it was this, that rendered
even the expansive genius of Anaxagoras utterly incompetent to